Poetry from the land of song as poor England forget their lines

Last updated at 10:34 08 February 2005

It was Charles Dickens, not Dylan Thomas, who wrote Great Expectations but it is in Wales that ambitions are rising now. The Welsh recovery from an age of poverty in their rugby union was signalled not by the narrow statistic of victory over England but the romantic way the men of Harlech gave expression to the only poetry to grace day one of this Six Nations Championship.

While England were prosaic, the Welsh brought some rhyme and sufficient reason for the congregation to fill the Millennium cathedral with their hymns and arias.

As the roof over God's little acre in Cardiff strained to contain the celebration, the wheels came off the English chariot. The World Cupwinning bandwagon had been creaking and groaning along for more than a year and the axle finally broke on Saturday night.

It was not only the relaid turf which was of uncertain grip, it was England's wavering hold on any last semblance of authority over

European rugby which gave way.

It is not easy to divorce yourself from the euphoria of an occasion like this but the suddenness with which England are subsiding was rendered all the more alarming by the moderate quality of this match.

Wales, by their own admission, played poorly. If they can do that against England yet still win, then the balance of 15-man power is swinging back towards the southern hemisphere even more rapidly than we feared.

Have the mighty in sport ever fallen more quickly?

It took French football four years to surrender its World and European championships. The collapse of cricket in the West Indies was a protracted and agonising process.

English rugby is staring into the abyss before the eyes of the man who took it to the summit barely 15 months ago.

Sir Clive Woodward travelled to Cardiff wondering how many of his fellow countrymen he might take with him to New Zealand this

summer under the banner of the British and Irish Lions. He left with more Welsh candidates to consider than he could possibly have anticipated.

Woodward's successor as England coach has not been helped by the retirement of such giants as Martin Johnson, nor the repeated

wounding of dead-eye Jonny Wilkinson. But if Andy Robinson is to stop the rot then first he must help himself.

The recall of Matt Dawson, whose competitive edge is now dulled, was a retrograde step. It was inadvisable to induct the embryonic but fragile promise of Mathew Tait in an experimental, rather than established, unit.

There was a suspicion of wavering discipline under pressure. Danny Grewcock should have been sent off for stamping on a Welshman, and, had he been so, England would have been well beaten long before Gavin Henson landed his long, late kick for glory.

Even in the most troubled phases of England's transition under

Woodward there was World Cup method in the manager's apparent madness.

Not at the moment. So bereft of ideas were England that they never truly threatened to create a try against a Welsh pack they were predicted to devour.

And if it was the future we were looking at, then it was the Welsh, not the English, who were coming up roses.

There was not a man in white to compare with Henson, a new millennium footballer, a young man of both substance and style. There could have been no more appropriate match-winner. Certainly not Jason Robinson on this day when he indulged his skills at the expense of the England team whom he was captaining.

At the moment, England's best hope appears to reside not within itself but in the erratic form and unstable temperament of the next opposition.

The French were no better in beating poor old Scotland in Paris - maybe worse - and England will take heart from the thought that they are unlikely to be as fortunate at Twickenham on Sunday.

Coach Robinson's honest refusal to seek excuses in the enforced changes among his second-row forwards encourages some belief that a victory which was good for Wales and beneficial to the Six Nations as a more open Championship might also have a salutary impact on England.

Although that will be scant consolation if the tournament ends with Wales playing Ireland in the title decider.

Henson raised that possibility with that kick which soared on the wings of the red dragon.

It was a moment of sheer poetry from which England will have a Dickens of a job recovering.

It was no help to managers trying to make rich, spoiled footballers behave themselves when a club as big as Celtic worked their way to the front of the line to sign Newcastle wide-boy Craig Bellamy. But, sadly, that queue of shame stretched an awful long way into the

Just as Sir Clive Woodward's forthcoming transfer from rugby set football's selfpreservationists scurrying to close ranks against an intruder, so some pundits object to Ian Darke opening up his microphone to football as well as boxing.

Come now, gentlemen. Just as Sir Alex Ferguson is keen to see what World Cup-winner Woodward can bring to the table, so Martin Tyler welcomes Darke, an equally accomplished professional, to the Sky commentary team. But then, they are both big men who are secure enough in their own ability to acknowledge that none of us is ever too old to stop learning from others.

Dock Chelsea points, but Arsenal should punish abject Cole too

Assuming that Chelsea tapped Ashley Cole with Mourinho's golden hammer then the least the Premier League can do is deduct enough points from their runaway leaders to make for a more exciting finish to the race for the Premiership.

The paying public would deserve nothing less. Nor would Chelsea, especially if chief executive Peter Kenyon really was arrogant, stupid and conspicuous enough to wave Roman Abramovich's money around the public domain of a London hotel.

As for Arsenal, whether or not this illegal approach can be proven, they should do with their avaricious England full back exactly what they ought to have done with their French captain Patrick Vieira last summer. Send him packing. Vieira has not been the same dynamic player for Arsenal since he was found to be tapdancing with Real Madrid. When it comes to evaluating whether his heart still belongs to Highbury,Vieira's indifferent actions on the pitch this season speak louder than his words on his website.

The same is highly likely to be true of Cole from now on. Although he scored at Aston Villa on Saturday, his performance against Manchester United last Tuesday - under the shadow of the Chelsea allegations - was abject.

This is usually the way of it when a footballer senses there is an even huger fortune to be earned elsewhere. And once he is no longer happy, the only answer in the end is to unload him to the highest bidder.

The alternative is for even the best teams to see their prospects for success slip away, just as Arsenal's Premiership title is going at the moment.

Manager Arsene Wenger is again exhibiting marked reluctance to part with an international player he regards as vital to the cause. And he is right to object if his best players are being unsettled by outsiders, be they rival clubs or agents.

Yet, with much of Arsenal's capital committed to the construction of their new stadium at Ashburton Grove he may not have enough cash at hand to recruit the new stars of which he looks increasingly in need.

If chairman Peter Hill-Wood can nail Chelsea he will do English football a favour. Although before too much hypocrisy rallies behind his cause it has to be admitted that there is hardly a top club - either at home or abroad - which does not put out enticing feelers to prospective transfer targets before making a formal offer.

None of that, however, will help Wenger keep Arsenal among the honours, although £50million for the reluctant pair would go an awful long way towards refreshing those parts of the team which Cole and Vieira no longer reach.

So while the Premier League can send out a message that not even the wealthiest club are above the law, Arsenal have the chance to remind our football princelings that no matter how rich and famous they may be, none of them are as indispensable as they fancy themselves to be.